Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom returns us to Isla Nublar where a natural disaster is set to re-extinct the dinosaurs. In a plot to rescue the creatures from extinction, ‘raptor wrangler’ Owen Grady played by Chris Pratt and former Jurassic World operations manager now dinosaur-rights activist Claire Dearing played by Bryce Dallas Howard return to the park despite the bad memories they left behind three years ago. Although with good intentions, the pair find themselves in bad company and once again must fight for their lives, this time with irreversible consequences.

I found this film a lot scarier than the first. There are many scenes that gave me goosebumps, but in a good way. The score is incredible, even playing the iconic Jurassic Park theme in a creepier haunting tone with an acoustic piano. While the film is a lot darker with realistic debates regarding scientific manipulation, there are still many funny moments. The dinosaurs in the film look so convincingly real with a combination of incredible visual effect dinosaurs and impressive animatronic dinosaurs.

Chris Pratt seems to effortless display his talents to both be great at fun and suspenseful scenes. While some scenes he is in may not seem accurate or scientifically plausible *cough-LAVA-cough*, this does not take away from the entertainment of the film and storyline. I found Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to be less romantic than the first film, which didn’t bother me at all because it was more about the dinosaurs and the humans scrambling to survive.

The children from Jurassic World sadly don’t make a return, but instead we do have an IT technician and a doctor who knows how to take care of dinosaurs apparently, even though never having met one before. The two new characters are sadly one dimensional and kind of annoying. Because of their lack of development, I was not at all emotionally invested in what happened to either of them. I did not feel the same way about the children in the first film and was actually frightened for their safety. If the Jurassic World series do decide to have a third film, I hope they bring back the children, and it will probably be good to show them all grown up anyway as time as progressed in the franchise storyline as well as in reality.

I was excited to see the character Dr Ian Malcolm return to the dinosaur franchise, a character from the very first Jurassic Park film played by Jeff Goldblum. Despite my excitement, the character is barely in the film and never actually crosses paths with Chris Pratt’s character, Owen. I found this understandable after learning the storyline, although a bit disappointing nonetheless. I hope if there is a next film, that the character returns with Dr Ian Malcolm meeting Owen Grady. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I have seen this film in both IMAX cinema and normal cinema, and I must say that the dinosaurs are bigger and scarier at IMAX. Plus, the many nature shots of Islar Nublar are stunning and will make you want to gamble with dinosaurs to visit the park for its beauty and nature. In a way you can as these visuals were shot on location at Kualoa Ranch, Oahu, Hawaii where the original Jurassic Park movie was filmed 25 years ago. I actually visited Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii last year, and it was definitely worth the flight and would be for any big Jurassic fan. If you can’t make it to Hawaii any time soon however, I still suggest seeing this film in IMAX while it is in cinemas. You can thank me later.

It is no coincidence Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is being released during the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park with many clever scenes paying little tributes to the cult classic. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is full of depth, humour, action, suspense and heartache. While it does satisfy, it will still leave you wanting more. I know it isn’t perfect, but it is damn good film alongside the first Jurassic World and original Jurassic Park film. I cannot recommend this film enough.